Jewish refugees on the 'St Louis' near Havana, 1939 (b/w photo)

Jewish refugees from the 'St. Louis' in a small ship near Havana. On May 13, 1939 the ocean liner 'St. Louis' of the Hamburg-America Line, left Hamburg and arrived in Havana on May 27th. On board were 937 passengers, predominantly Jews, who wanted to emigrate from Nazi Germany and who, for the most part, applied for visas to the USA. However, Cuba allowed only 28 passengers to disembark, 4 Spaniards, 2 Cubans and 22 Jews, who had the appropriate papers. Due to the poor economic situation in Cuba and because of anti-Semitic propaganda, which was spread by Cuban Nazi sympathizers, among others, an anti-Semitic attitude prevailed in Cuban public policy. Because the USA also pursued a restrictive immigration policy, the ship with the Jewish emigrants had to return to Europe on June 6th.